Athens

Iterations

     To find answers to complicated calculations, sometimes people use trial and error. Try something and see how close you get. Then adjust up or down until you zero in on the right answer. Paul did the same thing whenever he went to a new place. Maybe there should be a little adjustment here.



Introduction
     Acts 17:15-21
          Pressed preacher

After starting with Jews in the synagogue, in a long string of towns, Paul adds in the market place, where everyone goes. Gentile philosophers ask him to come and talk with them. Athens is the cultural and intellectual capital of the day, and the Areopagus is the center of that capital. So far, so good.
Note that Paul was not able to just keep quiet. I can, all too easily. Maybe that is because I am not in the market place enough. We insulated in our Christian bubbles, and lose touch with the lostness of the world.

 Idols
     Acts 17:22-25
          Inherent ignorance

He called them religious, and ignorant, not intelligent like they might have expected or thought about themselves. They worshipped, and people pretty much always do. We would benefit from finding the parts of their culture that give us ways in.
Paul said they had missed a god, and it was the God who created everything. He is not human dependent at all. Time to re-think what you think about God.

Identity
     Acts 17:26-34
          Apparent attributes

God is somebody, not something. We are placed by God at specific places and times, to seek Him.
What about people who do not hear about Jesus? How can that be fair? We can think of possible ways, like God’s placement being determined by knowledge of what kind of responses we will have. Or it may be that God responds to our responses, bringing more light if we respond to what we have. Those are possibilities, and they might play a role, but the point is that if I can think of possibilities, God can think of more, and He can make something work fairly.
Whatever the mechanics of that, we are not in an ignorant position any more. God requires that we repent.



In or Out
     2 Cor. 5:17
          Paul often described being a Christian as being in Christ. Because we are in Christ, what happened to Him applies to us. His death paid for our sin, and killed our old man. His resurrection shows He is God, and gives us eternal life. You are either in Christ, and therefore redeemed, or not.